My little work rant

[Knuckles 904]

My kiddo and I have been unbelievably sick this week and as a result have been home since Monday. I can never remember ever feeling this bad. Maybe my back surgeries come close but I had happy pills for that. Well my boss calls me Thursday night and says he really really really needs me to go visit a customer we sold a ton of radio equipment to.

 

The comm equip isn't working right in a few trucks. So I get my mom to come over and watch kiddo and I head out Friday at 3 am. I get there at 6 am, and I find that the problem was caused by us. Had some really shoddy solder work done by a co-worker named Tony, so next thing I know I'm checking every truck (50 total). Find about 1/2 of them need to be fixed. What really angered me was I know he didn't test any of his work. This should have been caught back at the shop and fixed. Now I'm wasting about 12 hrs, all non-billable, and I could be in bed. Luckily the customer had his mechanic help out by removing suspect part for me to evaluate/fix or I would still be there. So after 6 hrs I'm done and heading back, sure my day is over.

 

But oh no, boss calls again and says some work that was promised to be done yesterday wasn't and a Fire Dept needs done before weekend. He says that Tony had run the wire and it just needed to be connected and that Tony would meet me there. So I get there at 3pm and can't find wire or Tony. Find out Tony decided he deserved an early weekend and punched out at 2pm. Not only that but 90% of the wiring wasn't run. (I know he told boss that he completely ran wire, I just know it). Now I'm ready to pass out, I'm nauseous, light-headed, splitting headache, coughing all over....just miserable. But here I am at 6'6" 260lbs running a wire in the crawlspace under some dormers. Takes another 3 hrs to finish. I don't get home till almost 7pm. Now it takes a lot to really get me angry but once I'm there I can sustain it until the object of my anger presents itself. All I can say is Tony is in for a very bad Monday morning.

 

And to top it all off we got my mom sick now too. Just a bad day all around. But I feel better for venting

Edited April 11, 2008 by Knuckles

[EvilMale 7]

Dang man don't you just hate it when people don't have enough integrity to admit they haven't finished the job or can't be responsible enough to finish it. I know how you feel sometimes Knuckles. Hope ya feel better soon.

[gogoblender 3,070]

Knuckles regarding the work of our colleagues, I know what you mean. At my job, so much of our work is dependant upon what everyone else has done before us. Sometimes if I find that others haven't done a good job of referencing their work and being thorough, I have to spend a lot of MY time going over everything they did and THEN apologizing to the customer and THEN solving the problem. I'm sorry that you had to do all of this while you were sick. Feeling nauseous is never any fun, and you deserve the time that you have honestly worked for. I hope you're able to get a "speak" with this Tony. He sounds very disrespectful and thoughtless. I've always found it kind of selfish when others try to shortcut processes for themselves without really understanding all of the repercussions and how it impacts everyone that has to work with all of their "droppings" they leave behind.

 

I hope you and your family get better soon, neo citran, lots of bedrest and big blankets....then you'll be ready to find that guy ^^

 

You keep safe okay?

 

gogo

[myles 2]

I hope your boss has a good eye or at least a good ear, so that he will get a revelation and take proper action.

[erialc 2]

Awww Knuckles thats super crappy and I would happily help you torture the slacker that caused all this!

 

Hope you will be feeling better really soon Knuckles, *sends over some fleece lined spandex* and a few shots of medicinal whiskey

[Knuckles 904]

I've been with this company 15 yrs. I've had offers for better paying jobs, but it means working in the city and joining the rat race. This job allows me a lot of freedom. Like making my own hours (still usually put in 40-50 hrs) and taking unscheduled days off. Really important for a single dad. So I've stayed with them. They know I've had other offers and it gives me a lot of leverage.

 

I definitely have the owners ears. And typically I am the one that represents the company. My boss knew of the first mistake since he had called after I was almost done and he wasn't happy then. When he finds that Tony bailed on me especially knowing how sick I was, I almost feel bad for Tony.

 

it's just totally unprofessional. When you sell over 250K worth of gear and 1/2 doesn't work, and that due to poor workmanship, it makes us look pretty bad. So it looks like we'll have to give them a few freebies down the road to keep them happy.

 

Now I don't want Tony fired or docked in pay or anything. Just want whatever little phase he's going thru corrected.

 

One of my biggest peeves is poor workmanship and lack of pride. My father instilled in me at an early age that you do every job once and do it right. No shortcuts, no hiding mistakes. If you can't take pride in your work then it's time for a different job, or time to rethink your attitude.

 

hmmm fleece lined spandex pajamas............wonder if there's a market for these

[Schot 407]

lol @ pyjamas. Oh you'd make a killing I'm sure Knuckles.

 

 

So that's who Tony is. I'm guessing at the time that I had asked you if he was a friend on the servers that he probably wasn't at that moment, heh. Yup, I'd be pretty piffed too! Glad you took the opportunity to let it out here Knuckles as it can help get rid of the pent up frustration. That must have been one very crappy day. Starting it at 3am with a nasty flu is no ones idea of fun.

 

Hopefully good ol Tony will shape up after some "quality time" with the boss. Oh and I'm right there with yah on the whole workmanship attitude.

 

Hope that you, mom and little one are feeling better.

[Knuckles 904]

Well hopefully Tony got an earful from the boss today. Had a chat with boss with him earlier about Friday. Unfortunately I didn't make it into work as I brought my mom to hospital. This flu/bug or whatever it is really laid her low. I almost had to carry her in. Just left about an hour ago and waiting on kiddo to get off bus then probably heading back. Not sure if she's staying overnight. If not will probably put her up here for a few days. Not leaving her this sick at her place all alone

 

Plus, there's always tomorrow for my little chat with Tony

[stubbie 21]

First off, I hope your mum gets better real soon mate. Sounds like a real bugger of an illness. Hows your kid doing too?

 

I understand your frustration about the shoddy workmanship Knuckles. Your dad sounds exactly like mine did.

"If a jobs worth doing, its worth doing well" was his motto.

That attitude helped get me a foreman's position in charge of 50 people in my early twenties.

 

Hopefully Tony will be shown the error of his ways and have a life changing experience

 

Please keep us informed on the progress of everyone

 

stubbs

[Knuckles 904]

Well me and the kiddo are much better thx ....I just got a nagging cough left...Unfortunately my mom is a little worse, she's got some sort of infection on top of the flu/bug so she's staying a few days in hospital. Sure she'll be fine.

 

Of course if I do a little imaginative reasoning, I can blame this on Tony too. If he hadn't botched the work, my boss never calls, I stay home Friday, and my mom doesn't come over and get flu/bug from us.

 

I'll see him tomorrow though and show him a few of the connectors he screwed up. That and a reprimand I hope will be more than enough.

[gogoblender 3,070]

Usually folks like Tony, once they're shown how their workmanship impacts others in either a positive or negative way impacts others, go ahhhhhhhh...and then are more careful.

 

Knuckles, I hope your family gets over the bug soon... it's been hitting lately at my work here... winter's last bite trying to get us all one more time...

 

 

gogo

[stubbie 21]

... it's been hitting lately at my work here... winter's last bite trying to get us all one more time...

 

strange you say that gogo. We also have lots of people going down sick at work atm but we are just into autumn here.

 

I sense a sinister plot behind all this................. weaken the masses before the final assault!

 

stubbs

[gogoblender 3,070]

I've been pretty lucky though. *crosses fingers* No colds now for me in more than a year (maybe more?). The most I got last was a few sniffles that lasted a day and then they went. Right now there's a huge "thing" about everyone getting vaccinated against flu, the amount of advertising this campaign is getting... someone's getting a lot of money...

I've never had one, never will.

 

 

gogo

[myles 2]

Don't be so sure gogo, you better eat well. When a big one hit home, it could be very ugly.

 

(Don't even try to pretend that you have a balanced diet )

[Genenut 8]

I have kids (want one cheap? I'll trade) so they bring home what ever is circulating locally here. I can say that the flu shot is worth it. The one year someone (not me) brought home the flu those in the family who got the shot were better in 3-4 days, those without 7-10days.

[Knuckles 904]

Well my justice will have to wait a day or two, Tony's out with the flu. Looks like he might be out a day or two more. Shame, I've really been wanting to yell at him too.

 

Looks like Mom is staying a few days in hospital. Just talked to her, still doesn't sound any better

[Schot 407]

Awh Knuckles. Your mom got it something fierce eh. Really hoping that she gets well as fast as her body can get her.

 

*hex's Tony with a stomach flu *

[Knuckles 904]

My mom will be staying in hospital at least a few more days:( They're having problems removing the infection from her blood stream. Though she does seem much better than a few days ago. Hoping by Monday I can get her out. Got all next week off as it's spring break for my kiddo. So will have her stay at my place for the week.

 

As for Tony....He finally showed up at work today. I took a real neutral approach to the whole thing and boy I'm glad I did. I would have looked real bad otherwise. Just simply asked about the solder work. Here's where it gets a bit confusing. The company using the equip generally buys a whole bunch of it at the beginning of each year. Well what they did was use mostly equip from last year in the trucks in question. Well that batch was done by another coworker who was fired last summer for crappy work. All of Tony's work is still in boxes waiting for the new trucks to arrive.

 

I know Tony usually does good work so I was shocked when I first discovered prob and now find out it wasn't him. I was really relieved. One because it wasn't him and two, because I didn't yell at him first and accuse him of shoddy work.

 

As for leaving Friday, he was sick as a dog. He got this flu that seems to be making the rounds down here. I know how bad it is, so he simply went as long as he could before leaving. He ended up being out the first 3 days this week. Probably a good thing as most of my initial anger had dissipated.

[gogoblender 3,070]

Good for you regarding Tony, Knuckles. The neutral approach always seems to work wonders. And in this case, you still get to keep faith in Tony.

 

We can never have enough happy endings huh?

 

+++

 

 

gogo

[erialc 2]

I hope your Mom gets well fast Knuckles and you and the young un are recovering now!

 

hehe spandex jimjams....fur lined.....FUNKEH!

[stubbie 21]

Good to hear Knuckles that you found out what actually happened before doing your block

 

There is usually two sides to every story and I have just about always found that when I hear both sides I realise that I simply didn't have all the facts

 

Best of wishes for your mum to get well soon.

 

stubbs

[Schot 407]

What luck. It's a very good thing as you say that you had time to cool down before seeing Tony. That could have been very embarrassing had you been in your initial angry state, heh.

 

I'm kind of curious though as to what will be done with all the workmanship from the previously fired employeee. Now that your company has suffered the fellows workmanship will they be seeking out everything else that this poor worker may have left behind?

[Knuckles 904]

Well found out this guy actually lost a few accounts for us. It's mostly just installation accounts so I'm rarely involved with those. I didn't even realize we had lost them till I was talking to the owner. Fortunately I've bailed out this company's internal radio shop numerous times before so I'm going to go up and talk with them and see if we can work out some type of agreement. The people they're using now aren't doing a good job.

 

Guess we'll have to write in some quality assurances in next deal, and I'll probably have to do some QC'ing but I think I can get account back. Shame that you can have good standing with a company for years and one employee can destroy that in a matter of weeks/months